When a flutist is just learning how to play the flute, breathing can be one of the most difficult things to get the hang of. Once you find your perfect ‘spot’ and can begin making a noise out of your flute, the next step is to find out how to hold the notes. In this article I want to teach some secrets to not feeling so winded on flute. Take a minute and do a […]
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I’ve given many lessons and lectured several times about the subject of the impossible low C and C# on the flute, but today will take a new twist and look at a habit that is possibly and probably making your effort to play these notes even more futile. There are hundreds of thousands of learning flute-players in this world. They are all trying very hard to be able to sound the way they imagine the
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There are many reasons a flute can sound ‘off’. Intonation is oftentimes a work in progress for a learning flutist because we create our tone through our air stream. We can’t always blame our instrument for our sound. So “Why is my flute so out of tune?” So many ways to change pitch! Are you sharp? Are you flat? Is it a combination of both? Is it you or your flute? First, it’s important to
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Learning to single and double tongue well is imperative for flute players. In this article I will teach you the key to tonguing like a pro. As students are just beginning to play the flute, learning how to tongue and articulate each note is very important. Once they are able to play each note and have the basics down, tonguing becoming crucial to convey the correct style and tone for each piece of music. Single
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I always say that flute players are some of the smartest and most organized musicians out there (I may be a little biased haha). It seems to me that flute players have some sort of built in desire to push themselves to be the best they can be. This tends to overflow into more than just flute playing. Let’s look at the recipe to learn to play the flute without taking a lifetime (even though
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Recently I had a student email me and ask: “What are long tones? I know you recommend them to use in my warm-ups each day but I’m not sure exactly what they are.” First of all, I am so happy that a student asked me this question, because I consider long tones to be an essential part of warming up and how can someone use them to warm up if they don’t know what they
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There are people who play musical instruments, and then there are ‘musicians’. They aren’t the same, and your heart knows the difference even if your ears aren’t quite sure. Today I’d like to start a conversation intended on being a part of a guide for playing music from the heart. You, too can become a real musician. When I was much younger I remember feeling a bit of jealousy that my older brother had adventures
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The word ‘dynamics’ refers to the varying levels of actual volume of sound. Dynamics are used to create emotion in music, so as you can imagine they’re quite important! Let’s discover and debunk some facts and myths about dynamics on flute. There are different dynamic levels from very loud to very soft. In musical terms these are noted like this (from loud of soft): Fortissimo, Forte, Mezzo, Piano, Pianissimo. There are varying degrees, but you
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At every single stage of development, whether beginner or professional, we should find ‘études for flute’ as a part of many of our practice sessions. So what is an étude anyway? I’ll put it plainly here for you, and you’ll start down your ‘yellow-brick’ of enjoying them right away. As I write this article, I checked the dictionary definition to find out what it had to say; |ey’tood| NOUN A short musical composition, typically for
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If there is one thing that is certain, it’s that it is imperative for a flutist to learn everything possible about breathing. Many times there simply isn’t space enough between notes in a passage to take a breath, and this is a real problem. Learning how to breathe quickly between flute notes becomes an art in itself. The trick is all in the ability to get enough air into last until the next space available.
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